hey there, just chasing up some help. so the mightyboard in my makerbot replicator 2 got fried in a lightning strike and now i need to replace it, i dont want to spend $400 on a new board (no warranty) so what i want to know is if this board is compatible with my printer. im using a 24v 6.25a power supply.
any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
check out http://www.cohesion3d.com they have some great controller boards
@Domm434 thanks, i will take a look.
@Domm434 they have good boards, but none of which seem to be compatible with thermocouplers.
http://smoothieware.github.io/Webif-pack/documentation/web/html/temperaturecontrol.html#toc7
Adafruit sells an adapter, you might be able to find others for cheaper.
If you’re replacing the board and have some cash, might as well go all-in. Otherwise that board you linked would work.
The makerbot 2 boards are fused. Are you sure its completely blown and not a fuse or power supply issue? Unless the board took a direct hit, the power supply should have saved the rest of the circuitry from damage. The voltage regulators might certainly be blown, and the electrolytic capacitors blown, those are an easy fix to do.
a) can you post a picture (top and bottom) of the board?
b) has an electrician looked at the board?
@MidnightVisions (side note: i have a cert2 in ellectro tech, but im new to the 3d printer world).
so im not entirely sure what exactly has blown, it seamed to function for a while afterwards, but then it sparked and blew out. its not the PSU and its not the fuse. there was significant scorching and carbon trails near the primary power switch indicative of high voltage arcing. the stepper drivers all seam fine and operational.
the printer no longer boots up, even after i cleaned off the carbon trails and had a thorough visual check.
this part is really weird though, i checked the fuse voltage rating and it appears to read “240V” instead of “24V”, it has a really thick core in it as well.T
his is a second hand printer so it is possible that the first owner may have messed with the board a little.
heres a picture of the top of the board (linked from my older post):
@Stephanie_A thank you for letting me know. im on a very tight budget though (new boss is screwing me over) is there any superior boards you can recommend that are compataible with the makerbot control interface?
If your electronics certified, What has your multimeter told you? If the sparking is near the mains switch, and it no longer works, have you tested the switch with the meter. Parts burst into flames, such as diodes when they fail from passing too much current, or old age, or faulty. If the diodes are 4001 types in the power supply, then they are barely able to do the job and need upgrading to 4007 types. The fact that it worked after the strike means the strike did not kill it, but stressed some parts.
I would pull the drivers out of their sockets, replace the burnt parts, and any that look misshapened, then power it up to check all voltage levels across the board.
Your attempts to change the board with another manufacturers brand nost likely won’t work because makerbot is a closed system, and it won’t be compatible. If your unable to fix the board, and can’t find nearby help to fix it, contact makerbot and see if they have a repair service. That would still be cheaper than wasting your money on buying guesswork.
@raykholo has some great stuff. Check out his mini or remix.http://cohesion3d.com
If you’re looking to stay with MakerBot software then I don’t have any recommendations. Most boards run open source firmware and only the worst have closed ecosystem like MakerBot.
You can get nearly any board to work with any printer, so long as it has the features. Not many boards have thermocouple connections, but can typically be added on. You might need to do rewiring or replace connectors.
Replicator 2/2x boards are actually pretty hard to swap out for alternates. The stock LCD/button panel is not compatible with open-source Mightyboards because of a wiring harness change between the Rep1 and Rep2. And the stock wiring harness is difficult to adapt because of ribbon cables. Basically you’re looking at a 25-50% rebuild of the whole printer to do a board swap depending on what alternate you go with.
Least painful alternate:
Buy a FlashForge Mightyboard RevE and LCD/Button panel. Redo the wiring harness. All your old toolchain and settings will work the same. Your RGB lighting and gcode motor current control will still work.
Moderate effort alternate:
Pick any good 24v compatible board with thermocouple input. Redo all the wiring and figure out a new LCD or run headless off a PC. (May be a good time to set up an OctoPi or Duet Wifi…) Your RGB lighting won’t work. You’ll need to set motor current appropriately for your new board.
Strongly discouraged:
12v boards
Thermistor-only boards
8825 drivers
Oh, and DO NOT buy Geeetech Mightyboards, they’re full of undocumented mods from the RevE schematics, which weren’t good to begin with, and everyone I’ve seen buy one has had to do a lot of electrical hacking on them to get them to work. Buy a FlashForge RevE (may be called CreatorBoard now I think) if you want to stick with the Mightyboard platform for lower cost than Makerbot parts.
Well if you have to redo the harness and lcd, might as well go 32bit.
Go 32bit and with a board with TMC steppers - stealthmode for a silent printer is where it’s at 